Apologists say that Bacha Bazi or 'Boy Play' is a very old cultural practice in Afghanistan and part of that nation's mainstream.

Citing the Afghanistan strategy review, Vice President Joe Biden reported "great progress" in the counterterrorism effort that has significantly degraded al-Qaeda and the Taliban, particularly their leadership. Lagging behind, he said, is progress on the counterinsurgency front – eliminating terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and building a stable Afghan government.

However, not once did Biden – nor Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- mention Afghanistan's dirty secret – a large number of pedophiles and pederasts among the Afghan male population.

Pedophilia is a widely-accepted practice in southern Afghanistan, where "boys are given to older men for the sexual gratification of the elder and the sexual education of the child," say many returning U.S. troops.

KANO, Nigeria (AP) — A coordinated attack by a radical Islamist sect in north Nigeria’s largest city killed at least 143 people, a hospital official said Saturday, representing the extremist group’s deadliest assault since beginning its campaign of terror in Africa’s most populous nation.

Soldiers and police officers swarmed Kano‘s streets as Nigeria’s president again promised the sect known as Boko Haram would “face the full wrath of the law.” But the uniformed bodies of security agents that filled a Kano hospital mortuary again showed the sect can strike at will against the country’s weak central government.

Friday’s attacks hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria’s secret police in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious center in the country’s Muslim north. A suicide bomber detonated a car loaded with powerful explosives outside a regional police headquarters, tearing its roof away and blowing out windows in a blast felt miles away as its members escaped jail cells there.

Authorities largely refused to offer casualty statistics as mourners began claiming the bodies of their loved ones to bury before sundown, following Islamic tradition. However, a hospital official told The Associated Press at least 143 people were killed in the attack.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the death toll to journalists. The toll could still rise, since other bodies could be held at other clinics and hospitals in the sprawling city.

State authorities enforced a 24-hour curfew in the city, with many remaining home as soldiers and police patrolled the streets and setup roadblocks. Gunshots echoed through some areas of the city into Saturday morning.

Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said volunteers offered first aid to the wounded, and evacuated those seriously injured to local hospitals. A survey of two hospitals by the Red Cross showed at least 50 people were injured in Friday’s attack, he said.

A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists Friday. He said the attack came because the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Saturday that he was “shocked and appalled” by the attacks in the former colony.

“The full horror of last night’s events is still unfolding, but we know that a great many people have died and many more have been injured,” Hague said in a statement. “The nature of these attacks has sickened people around the world and I send my deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of those killed and to those injured.”

President Goodluck Jonathan also condemned an attack he said saw innocent people “brutally and recklessly cut down by agents of terror.”

“As a responsible government, we will not fold our hands and watch enemies of democracy, for that is what these mindless killers are, perpetrate unprecedented evil in our land,” Jonathan said in a statement. “I want to reassure Nigerians … that all those involved in that dastardly act would be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

But Jonathan’s government has repeatedly been unable to stop attacks by Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.

Authorities blamed Boko Haram for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count, including an August suicide bombing on the U.N. headquarters in the country’s capital Abuja. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 219 killings, according to an AP count.

Boko Haram recently said it specifically would target Christians living in Nigeria’s north, but Friday’s attack saw its gunmen kill many Muslims. In a recent video posted to the Internet, Imam Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Harm leader, warned it would kill anyone who “betrays the religion” by being part of or sympathizing with Nigeria’s government.

“I swear by Allah we will kill them and their killing will be nothing to us,” Shekau said. “It will be like going to prayers at 5 a.m.”

Friday’s attacks also could cause more unrest, as violence in Kano has set off attacks throughout the north in the past, including postelection violence in April that saw 800 people killed. Kano, an ancient city, remains important in the history of Islam in Nigeria and has important religious figures there today.

Amid the recent unrest and attacks, at least two journalists have been killed in Nigeria. Journalist Enenche Akogwu, who worked as a correspondent in Kano for private news station Channels Television, was shot Friday while reporting on the attacks, colleagues said. In central Nigeria’s city of Jos, Nansok Sallah, a news editor for a government-owned radio station called Highland FM, was found dead in a shallow stream Thursday, the victim of an apparent murder, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

Father Held for Killing Infant (Muslim Father Kills Baby Girl for... Being a Girl...)The Times of India ^ | Feb 7, 2012 | The Times of India Posted on February 7, 2012 9:34:45 PM EST by DogByte6RER

Father held for killing infant

BEHRAMPORE: A man allegedly hurled his one-and-half- month-old daughter at Mangaljone Mathpara in Raghunathgunj on Sunday night. Manoyara Khatun's forehead was badly injured and she died of heavy bleeding. As the news spread, the villagers informed the police.

Majibar Rahman was had been upset with his wife for having giving birth to a girl. Kohinoor Bibi, the baby's grandmother said, "When he came yesterday with some medicines and baby food, we forgave him. How could we suspect that he would kill his own child? Such cruelty is unacceptable to us and even to Allah! Allah would surely punish him."

Abusing his wife for having given birth to a daughter, on Sunday,he snatched Manoyara and hurled her to the ground. He had allegedly also killed his first child.

"As I gave birth to a daughter, my husband was annoyed with me. We are poor and thus he wanted a son. He accused me regularly and did not even come to my father's house to see the baby. But I could not imagine that he could kill his own daughter. I demand exemplary punishment," said the baby's mother.

Annappa E, additional SP of Murshidabad, said, "Police have started inquiry. Majibar was absconding at first but we finally arrested him from Raghunathgunj."

In another incident, police found the body of a newborn at Ghatbandar on the banks of Bhagirathi in Behrampore on Monday noon. "The parents probably had brought the baby in a bag and left it there. The baby's head was smeared with blood," said police.

An Iraqi woman living in Phoenix has been arrested after admitting to beating her daughter and shackling the 19-year-old to a bed as punishment for speaking with a man. After the mother admitted to the crime and explained the catalyst was her “Iraqi culture,“ all elements bear the markings of an ”honor beating.”

Farhan resisted arrest and called out to other family members present to help her fight off police, according to court paperwork. Those family members also jumped into the fray and had to be restrained in the hospital’s emergency area, according to police.

Washington (CNN) -- A 29-year-old man from Morocco was arrested Friday and charged with attempting to bomb the U.S. Capitol building in a suicide attack, authorities said.

Suspect Amine El Khalifi made an initial appearance in court and, if convicted, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the Justice Department.

He allegedly went to a parking garage near the Capitol on Friday and received what he thought was a vest with explosives and a firearm, both of which had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement. He was arrested before leaving the garage.

"Today's case underscores the continuing threat we face from homegrown violent extremists," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco. "Thanks to a coordinated law enforcement effort, El Khalifi's alleged plot was thwarted before anyone was harmed."

The suspect was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against government property. Authorities say the public was never in any danger.

As news of the arrest broke, the Senate had just wrapped up voting on a payroll tax cut extension deal. The House of Representatives had already voted on the deal and members had left, or were leaving. Tourists were also at the Capitol, as is usual.

During his initial court appearance, El Khalifi wore blue pants and a green T-shirt with the words "Ready in Season" on the back. He had short black hair, a trimmed, thin beard and tattoos on his inner arm. He stood straight, showed no emotion and did not speak.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday.

The suspect, an immigrant from Morocco, is in the United States illegally. He had been closely monitored as part of a lengthy and extensive undercover operation, police said, adding that U.S. Capitol Police had been "intimately" involved in the investigation.

The suspect entered the United States in June 1999 on a B2 visa -- which allows for trips for pleasure, tourism or medical treatment, according to an FBI affidavit. His visa expired that same year and he has been living in the United States illegally ever since.

In January 2011, a confidential source reported to the FBI that El Khalifi met with other individuals at a residence in Arlington, Virginia. A person there produced what appeared to be weapons and El Khalifi "expressed agreement with a statement by this individual that the 'war on terrorism' was a 'war on Muslim,' and said that the group needed to be ready for war," the affidavit read.

At another point, El Khalifi allegedly said he would "be happy killing 30 people," it said.

One law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CNN that authorities are searching two locations in Virginia in connection to the investigation -- one in Arlington, the other in Alexandria.

A second law enforcement official said El Khalifi is not connected to a terrorist organization and was acting alone.

El Khalifi thought he had met al Qaeda members who would assist him, but in fact he was dealing with undercover FBI agents, said the second source, who declined to say whether the FBI has audio or video recordings of the suspect talking to undercover agents about his plans.

A third source briefed on the matter said the suspect was identified through an existing criminal, not terrorism investigation. When asked about possible entrapment, the U.S. government source said the suspect went out on his own to buy component pieces for an improvised explosive device.

After news of the arrest broke, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor hailed the work of the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police in thwarting the alleged attack.

"These brave members of our law enforcement community make daily sacrifices in their work to keep us safe and deserve tremendous credit for their efforts leading up to today's successful sting," he said.President Barack Obama was informed on Thursday about the FBI's plan to arrest El Khalifi, a White House spokesman said.

Top congressional leaders were also briefed on the arrest and operation, a congressional source said, though it was not clear exactly when.

Unlike some other recent attacks on the Capitol, Friday's alleged suicide plot involved a suspect willing to kill himself.

In September last year, a federal grand jury indicted a man for allegedly plotting to use large remote-controlled model airplanes filled with explosives to attack the Capitol and the Pentagon.

A man was arrested in September 2008 two blocks from the Capitol after an officer spotted a rifle in his car.

And in July 1998, a gunman fired shots in the Capitol building, killing two U.S. Capitol Police officers.

Kabul (CNN) -- The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack Saturday inside the Afghan interior ministry that killed at least two American officers.

NATO and Afghan officials reported the deaths of two American officers inside the ministry in Kabul, prompting Gen. John Allen to order all military advisers with the International Security Assistance Force to withdraw from government ministries in the Afghan capital as a safety precaution.

According to ISAF, initial reports indicated that "an individual" turned his weapon against NATO service members. The agency did not provide the nationalities of the victims, but an Afghan police official confirmed they were American.

The two officers were found dead in their office from gunshot wounds to the head, the Afghan official said.

"I condemn today's attack at the Afghan Ministry of Interior that killed two of our coalition officers, and my thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the brave individuals lost today," said Allen, the ISAF commander.

"The perpetrator of this attack is a coward whose actions will not go unanswered," he added.

A Taliban spokesman said the attack was in response to the recent burning of Qurans at a U.S. base.

"The attacker is still alive and resisting and a second Mujahid managed to escape the ministry," Zabiullah Mujahid said in an email. "This comes amid our call to all Afghan security forces to turn their guns towards the invading forces who are the real enemies of our country and religion and kill them so they leave our country."

NATO and Afghan officials did not immediately confirm that the Taliban were behind the attack.

The Americans killed were a colonel and a major, the Afghan official said earlier.

"They were part of the advisory mission there," the official said. "At this stage we can't say why they were killed."

The investigation is ongoing, and it was unclear who the shooter was, the Afghan official said. However, it's unlikely that the gunman was an outsider who had infiltrated the ministry, he said.

The attack happened in a separate compound inside the interior ministry where as many as 10 Americans are based, the Afghan official said. Such an attack would have to be planned, he said.

Allen's order includes the interior and defense ministries, among others, the U.S. official said.

The U.K. Foreign Office announced that British officials working in Afghan ministries in Kabul have also been withdrawn, as a "temporary measure."

ISAF provides advisers in key ministries to help train Afghan officials. It is not clear to what extent, if any, ISAF's military training mission is affected by the attack.

Washington (CNN) -- Tapping away at his computer in the study of the suburban compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that he called home for the last years of his life, Osama bin Laden wrote memos urging his followers to continue to try to attack the United States, suggesting, for instance, they mount assassination attempts against President Obama and Gen. David Petraeus.

While he urged his organization on to attack America, bin Laden was also keenly aware that al Qaeda was in deep trouble because of the campaign of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan and also because the brutal tactics of his followers had alienated many Muslims.

According to senior Obama administration officials who have reviewed the "treasure trove" of the thousands of documents that were picked up by the U.S. Navy SEALs from bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, the leaders of al Qaeda understood that the group they led was "beleaguered." CNN was given a briefing this week by senior administration officials who have been analyzing the documents.

Bin Laden wrote a 48-page memo to a deputy in October 2010 that surveyed the state of his organization. He was particularly concerned that al Qaeda's longtime sanctuary in Waziristan in Pakistan's tribal areas was now too dangerous because of the campaign of American drone strikes there that had picked off many of his key lieutenants.

According to a count by the New America Foundation, the CIA launched a record number of 118 strikes into the tribal regions during 2010, the year bin Laden wrote this memo.

Bin Laden advised his followers not to move around the tribal regions except on overcast days when America's all-seeing satellites and drones would not have as good coverage of the area.

He also urged his followers to depart the tribal regions for the remote Afghan provinces of Ghazni, Zabul and, in particular, Kunar, pointing out that the high mountains and dense forests of Kunar provided especially good protection from prying American eyes.

Bin Laden fretted about his 20-year-old son, Hamza, who had recently been released from house arrest in Iran, instructing his deputy to tell his son to move out of Waziristan. He also provided elaborate instructions about how Hamza might evade the surveillance of the American drones in the tribal regions by meeting members of al Qaeda inside a particular tunnel on the road between the western Pakistani town of Kohat and the city of Peshawar.

During his final days, bin Laden's world was filled with paranoia. He instructed that Hamza should throw out anything he had taken with him from Iran as it might contain some kind of tracking device, and that he should avoid the company of a man who might have ties to the Pakistani intelligence services.

Bin Laden also reminded his deputies that all internal communications should be made by letter rather than by phone or the Internet.

As a result, according to administration officials, bin Laden had to wait for responses to his queries to his deputies that could sometimes take up to two or three months to be delivered -- surely not an efficient way to run any organization.

Bin Laden also advised his lieutenants that when they kidnapped someone they should take many precautions during the negotiating process and also throw away any bags that contained ransom money because they might also contain a tracking device.

The spectacular set of self-inflicted mistakes made by al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq weighed heavily on the minds of bin Laden and his top advisers. Privately, they criticized the brutal tactics of al Qaeda in Iraq, which had provoked a tribal uprising against al Qaeda that had dealt a large blow to the group's position in Iraq from 2006 onward.

Until the end, bin Laden remained fixated on attacking the United States, prodding his deputy to "nominate one of the qualified brothers to be responsible for a large operation in the U.S."

According to administration officials, bin Laden's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, pushed back, telling bin Laden it was much more realistic to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan than American civilians in the United States.

Bin Laden did urge his followers to scope out opportunities to attack President Obama or Petraeus while they were in Afghanistan. At the time, Petraeus was the commanding general of NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden noted snidely that killing Obama would pave the way for Vice President Joe Biden to assume the presidency. The al Qaeda leader said Biden was "totally unprepared" for the job.

Above all, bin Laden constantly fretted about his media image, pointing out to his deputies that "a huge part of the battle is in the media."For the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden wanted his media team to emphasize particularly that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were one of the main reasons for the financial crisis in the United States. (Bin Laden bought his compound in Abbottabad with cash, so presumably he didn't quite understand the dimensions of the subprime mortgage debacle.)

One of his media advisers, who U.S. officials believe to be the American al Qaeda recruit Adam Gadahn, suggested bin Laden take advantage of the 9/11 anniversary in 2011 to record a 'high definition' videotape message that could be given to all the major American news networks, except to Fox News, which Gadahn said "lacks neutrality." It doesn't appear that bin Laden made such a tape.

Administration officials say it is strange that in all the documents recovered at the bin Laden compound there is no mention at all of al Qaeda's plot to use liquid explosives to bring down as many as seven American, British and Canadian passenger planes flying from Heathrow Airport in 2006. If this plot had succeeded it might have rivaled 9/11 as a spectacular attack.

Bin Laden moved into his Abbottabad compound either at the end of 2005 or sometime in 2006 and an administration official says that, perhaps, information about the Heathrow plot "got lost in the move."

A Muslim adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama warned in a post on the Twitter social networking site last week that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can't deliver 'resistance to Israel.' The adviser, Egyptian-born Dalia Mohaded, is employed in the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, at the White House.

The tweet, posted on March 10 and picked up by the media watchdog Jihadwatch, read as follows: "To those siding w/Assad: he cannot deliver stability, protection of minorities, or resistance to Israel. He is a killer w/o legitimacy.”

The tweet has sparked numerous responses in media, on the Internet and on Twitter reflecting concerns that Mohaded appeared to be more concerned about the Syrian president's inability to carry out "resistance to Israel" -- which is a key U.S. ally -- than his compassion for his own people, and his murderous rampages against them.

More than 8,000 Syrians have died at the hands of government forces since the Arab Spring uprising a year ago sparked brutal retaliation by Assad loyalists against civilian protesters, including torture, rape and other atrocities. Many of the victims were women and children. Turkey has reported at least 14,000 refugees from Syria have crossed the border near Idlib into its territory; the United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 people have been left homeless by the burgeoning civil war in which Assad's troops have fired heavy artillery at city neighborhoods in order to suppress the uprising.

Dalia Mogahed, a member of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is fighting controversy over her online remarks about Israel.

On March 10, Mogahed tweeted her opposition to embattled Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, listing as one of his flaws the allegation that he "cannot deliver...resistance to Israel," though Syria has been implacably hostile to Israel for decades.

Until recently, the Assad regime sheltered the Hamas terrorist group, among other anti-Israel organizations, and recently organized a march on the Israeli border that was treated as a legitimate protest by the international media.

After bloggers noticed Mogahed's tweets, she began defending her remarks, explaining that they were aimed at Assad's supporters, and not Israel. However, it is clear from other, unrelated tweets that she also holds anti-Israel views.

WASHINGTON – A year after the Navy SEAL raid that killed Usama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks is essentially gone but its affiliates remain a threat to America, U.S. counterterrorist officials say.

Core Al Qaeda's new leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, still aspires to attack the U.S., but his Pakistan-based group is scrambling to survive, under fire from CIA drone strikes and lying low for fear of another U.S. raid. That has lessened the threat of another complex attack like a nuclear dirty bomb or a biological weapon, the officials say.

Al Qaeda's loyal offshoots are still dangerous, especially Yemen's Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. While not yet able to carry out complex attacks inside the U.S., such groups are capable of hitting Western targets overseas and are building armies and expertise while plotting violence, according to senior U.S. counterterrorist officials who briefed reporters Friday.

"Each will seek opportunities to strike Western interests in its operating area, but each group will have different intent and ability to execute those plans," said Robert Cardillo, a deputy director at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The other officials were authorized to speak only on condition of anonymity.

The shift from a single, deadly group to a more amorphous threat may not seem much of an improvement. But the U.S. believes that the bin Laden raid and continued U.S. counterterrorist action have reduced the chance of a sophisticated, multipronged attack on the U.S. like the attacks of Sept. 11 or the deadly bombings in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005.

An attack with weapons of mass destruction -- chemical, biological or nuclear -- by any Al Qaeda-related terror group also seems less likely in the coming year, Cardillo said.

Al Qaeda's Zawahri has not managed to harness multiple groups into a cohesive force focused on a single, catastrophic attack, officials said.

Al Qaeda's key affiliates in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and North Africa have pledged allegiance to Zawahri but, unimpressed with his leadership, "have not offered the deference they gave bin Laden," Cardillo said. Zawahri has a reputation as an abrasive manager and a less than charismatic speaker.

That loss of a single, charismatic voice likely means "multiple voices will provide inspiration for the movement," leading to a bout of soul-searching as to what the splinter groups want to target and why, Cardillo said.

"There will be a vigorous debate about local versus global jihad within and among terror organizations," he said.

Another potentially positive sign is Al Qaeda's failure to hijack the Arab Spring revolt in Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. On the negative side, the officials said, Al Qaeda is working hard to co-opt rebels in Syria.

If the political wrangling in any of the post-revolt nations fails to produce stable, responsive governments, Al Qaeda and its ilk may be able to seize the void, the officials said.

That's what has occurred in Yemen, where AQAP has taken full advantage of the local government's preoccupation fighting multiple political opponents. AQAP has grown in size and territory covered despite constant and expanded targeting by Yemeni and U.S. counterterrorist forces, the officials said.

Another threat they cited: Homegrown extremists, either lone actors or small groups inspired by Al Qaeda, who remain intent on committing violence.

The officials also noted that every time U.S. counterterrorist forces strike, they must take care to avoid everything from civilian casualties to hitting the wrong target, lest the blowback produce more enemies."The key challenge will be balancing aggressive counterterrorism operations, with the risk of exacerbating the anti-Western global agenda" of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, Cardillo said.

(CNN) -- On May 16 last year, a 22-year-old Austrian named Maqsood Lodin was being questioned by police in Berlin. He had recently returned from Pakistan via Budapest, Hungary, and then traveled overland to Germany. His interrogators were surprised to find that hidden in his underpants were a digital storage device and memory cards.

Buried inside them was a pornographic video called "Kick Ass" -- and a file marked "Sexy Tanja."

Several weeks later, after laborious efforts to crack a password and software to make the file almost invisible, German investigators discovered encoded inside the actual video a treasure trove of intelligence -- more than 100 al Qaeda documents that included an inside track on some of the terror group's most audacious plots and a road map for future operations.

Future plots include the idea of seizing cruise ships and carrying out attacks in Europe similar to the gun attacks by Pakistani militants that paralyzed the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. Ten gunmen killed 164 people in that three-day rampage.

Terrorist training manuals in PDF format in German, English and Arabic were among the documents, too, according to intelligence sources.

U.S. intelligence sources tell CNN that the documents uncovered are "pure gold;" one source says that they are the most important haul of al Qaeda materials in the last year, besides those found when U.S. Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a year ago and killed the al Qaeda leader.

One document was called "Future Works." Its authorship is unclear, but intelligence officials believe it came from al Qaeda's inner core. It may have been the work of Younis al Mauretani, a senior al Qaeda operative until his capture by Pakistani police in 2011.

The document appears to have been the product of discussions to find new targets and methods of attack. German investigators believe it was written in 2009 -- and that it remains the template for al Qaeda's plans.

Investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash, a reporter with the German newspaper Die Zeit, was the first to report on the documents. One plan: to seize passenger ships. According to Musharbash, the writer "says that we could hijack a passenger ship and use it to pressurize the public."

Musharbash takes that to mean that the terrorists "would then start executing passengers on those ships and demand the release of particular prisoners."

The plan would include dressing passengers in orange jump suits, as if they were al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and then videotaping their execution.

Lodin and a man called Yusuf Ocak, who allegedly traveled back to Europe with him, are now on trial in Berlin where they are pleading not guilty. Ocak was detained in Vienna two weeks after Lodin's arrest.

According to a senior Western counterterrorism official, their names were on a watch list, and when they handed over documents at a European border crossing, their names registered with counterterrorism agencies.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges. Ocak is also charged with helping to form a group called the German Taliban Mujahedeen, and is alleged to have made a video for the group threatening attacks in Germany.

Prosecutors believe the pair met at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's tribal territories and were sent back to Europe to recruit a network of suicide bombers.

"We do not know what those men were up to but there are certain files of information that would make it plausible that they were probably thinking of a Mumbai-style attack," says Musharbash.

In the fall of 2010, a year after the document was written, European intelligence agencies were scrambling to investigate a Mumbai-style plot involving German and other European militants -- which sparked an unprecedented U.S. State Department travel warning for Americans in Europe.

"I think it is plausible to think that the 'Future Works' document is part of that particular project," says Musharbash.

"Future Works" suggests al Qaeda was an organization under great pressure, without a major attack to its name in several years, harried by Western intelligence. If anything, its predicament is even more dire today.

"The document delivers very clearly the notion that al Qaeda knows it is being followed very closely," Musharbash tells CNN. "It specifically says that Western intelligence agencies have become very good at spoiling attacks, that they have to come up with new ways and better plotting."

Part of the response, according to the document, should be to train European jihadists quickly and send them home -- rather than use them as fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- with instructions on how to keep in secret contact with their handlers.

What emerges from the document is a twin-track strategy -- with the author apparently convinced that al Qaeda needs low-cost, low-tech attacks (perhaps such as the recent gun attacks in France carried out by Mohammed Merah) to keep security services preoccupied while it plans large-scale attacks on a scale similar to 9/11.

Those already under suspicion in Europe and elsewhere would be used as decoys, while others would prepare major attacks.

That is yet to materialize, but Musharbash believes a complex gun attack in Europe is still on al Qaeda's radar.

"I believe that the general idea is still alive and I believe that as soon as al Qaeda has the capacities to go after that scenario, they will immediately do it," he says.

While "Future Works" does not include dates or places, nor specific plans, it appears to be a brainstorming exercise to seize the initiative -- and reinstate al Qaeda on front pages around the world.

Controversial Dutch politician and author Geert Wilders is speaking out against Islam, but unlike most Westerners he does not draw a distinction between Islam and radical Islam, but claims that they are the same.

Wilders is a member of the Dutch parliament and founder of the Party for Freedom. He said outspokenness about Islam has taken a toll on his life. He has been threatened with death, been taken court, and been banned from other European countries.

“Anybody who dares to speak out against this ideology called Islam will pay a heavy price,” he in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV. “I lived with my wife for six months in a prison cell for security reasons. We didn’t commit any crime. We lived in army barracks and safe houses. I always say if I spoke up, which I’m not planning to do, but just for argument’s sake, if I spoke out against Christianity, all those things would not have happened. We use the pen and, unfortunately, they use the ax.”

Wilders is a controversial critic of Islam, campaigning against what he sees as the "Islamisation of the Netherlands." He has compared the Quran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and has called for the book to be banned. He also advocates ending immigration from Muslim countries.

Wilders was banned from entering Britain for nine months in 2009; the ban was overturned in October 2009 after he appealed. In June 2011, he was acquitted of hate charges.

The author of “Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me” said that Islam, “at the end of the day, will cost us our freedom, our freedom of speech.”

“I acknowledge the fact that the majority of the Muslims are law-abiding people,” he noted. “It would be ridiculous to even suggest that the majority of the Muslims are terrorists. They are not. There is only one Islam; this is the Islam of the holy book the Quran and the Islam of the prophet Mohammed. It’s not so much a religion, it’s an ideology.

“It’s an ideology that should be compared not with Christianity or Judaism, but with communism or with fascism. Let me give you one example: If you want to leave Islam ... the penalty for that is death. You have to be killed. This is not the case with Christianity or with Judaism. But it was the case in Nazi Germany or with Communist Russia. You have to see Islam for what it is because if we don’t, we will lose our free, Christian-based society.”

Wilders said that Islam has spread throughout Europe and led to honor killings, genital mutilation, and Sharia courts, aided by the “disease called cultural relativism.” He said that all cultures are not equal.

“In my book, I tell the American public, Europe is in very, very bad shape today and please don’t think that what’s happening to Europe today will not happen to America tomorrow,” he said. “It will happen to America tomorrow unless you fight for freedom, you fight for your own identity and you cut back on the Islamization of our society.”

One key bulwark in the fight against Islam is Israel.

“I know that we should all support the state of Israel,” Wilders said. “Israel is fighting our fight. Israel is exactly on the border of Jihad and reason and Israel is a beacon of light, a canary in a coal mine, so to say, in an area of darkness and tyranny. I believe that parents in America and Europe can sleep easily at night because Israeli parents lay awake at night worrying about their children defending our borders. The border of Jihad is our border.

“We share the same cultural values as Israel does. If Jerusalem falls, Athens will fall, Amsterdam will fall, and America will fall as well. They are fighting our fight. We should do anything possible to support the state of Israel. Certainly against this barbaric regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Attorney in hijab defends call for other women at 9/11 hearing to wear 'appropriate' clothingPublished May 06, 2012FoxNews.comMay 5, 2012: In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Pentagon paid civilian defense lawyer Cheryl Borman, defense attorney of accused Sept. 11 co-conspirator Walid bin Attash, argues a point during the military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. (AP/POOL)

The defense attorney who wore a traditional Islamic outfit during the rowdy arraignment of the accused Sept. 11 terrorists is defending her courtroom appeal that other women in the room wear more "appropriate" clothing to the proceedings -- out of respect for her client's Muslim beliefs.

Cheryl Bormann, counsel for defendant Walid bin Attash, attended the arraignment Saturday dressed in a hijab, apparently because her client insisted on it. She further requested that the court order other women to follow that example so that the defendants do not have to avert their eyes "for fear of committing a sin under their faith."

At a press conference Sunday at Guantanamo Bay, Bormann said she dresses in a hijab at "all times" when she meets with her client "out of respect" for his beliefs. Asked why she requested other women do the same, Bormann said, "When you're on trial for your life, you need to be focused."

Bormann, who is not Muslim, claimed the issue came up several years ago, when a paralegal wore "very short skirts" and it became a distraction for the defendants. She said that on Saturday, "somebody" was also dressed "in a way that was not in keeping with my client's religious beliefs."

"If because of someone's religious beliefs, they can't focus when somebody in the courtroom is dressed in a particular way, I feel it is incumbent upon myself as a counsel to point that out and ask for some consideration from the prosecution," she said. "Suffice to say it was distracting to members of the accused."

The clothing request was just one of several unusual moments during Saturday's lengthy and chaotic hearing.

The court hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants should have taken a couple of hours at most. Instead it lasted almost 13 hours, including meal and prayer breaks, as the men appeared to make a concerted effort to stall Saturday's hearing.

They knelt in prayer, ignored the judge, wouldn't listen to Arabic translations over their head sets and one even insisted on having the more than 20 pages detailing the charges against them read aloud, rather than deferred for later in their case as the judge wanted, which added more than two hours to the proceedings.

Defense lawyer James Connell said Sunday that a tentative trial date of May 2013 is a "placeholder" until a true date can be set for the trial.

"It's going to take time," said the chief prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, who said he expects to battle a barrage of defense motions before the case goes to trial. "I am getting ready for hundreds of motions because we want them to shoot everything they can shoot at us."

The defendants' behavior outraged 9/11 family members watching on closed-circuit video feeds around the United States at East Coast military bases. One viewer shouted, "C'mon, are you kidding me?" at the Fort Hamilton base in Brooklyn.

A handful of people who lost family members in the attacks and were selected by a lottery to attend the proceedings watched in the courtroom. "They're engaging in jihad in a courtroom," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother, Charles, was the pilot of the plane that flew into the Pentagon. She watched the proceeding from Brooklyn.

The defense attorneys in the case have complained repeatedly about the proceedings and about the military tribunal system itself. Human rights groups and defense lawyers say the secrecy of Guantanamo and the military tribunals will make it impossible for the defense. They argued the U.S. kept the case out of civilian court to prevent disclosure of the treatment of prisoners like Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times.

A family member of one 9/11 victim spoke to reporters Sunday and said he has respect for the defense attorneys.

"They're doing their job," said Eddie Bracken of Staten Island, New York, whose sister Lucy Fishman died at the World Trade Center in 2001.

Bracken also read from a prepared statement which was directed at Mohammed. "You never killed the American spirit. Let freedom ring, let freedom ring, let freedom ring -- and that's what I have to say," he said.

Mohammed, the admitted 9/11 architect, and the four men accused of aiding the 9/11 conspiracy put off their pleas until a later date. They face 2,976 counts of murder and terrorism in the 2001 attacks that sent hijacked jetliners into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The charges carry the death penalty.

Earlier Saturday, Mohammed cast off his earphones providing Arabic translations of the proceeding and refused to answer Army Col. James Pohl's questions or acknowledge he understood them. All five men refused to participate in the hearing; two passed around a copy of The Economist magazine and leafed through the articles.

Bin Attash was confined to a restraint chair when he came into court on Saturday, released only after he promised to behave.

Ramzi Binalshibh began praying alongside his defense table, followed by Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, in the middle of the hearing; Binalshibh then launched into a tirade in which he compared a prison official to the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and declared that he was in danger.

"Maybe they will kill me and say I committed suicide," he said in a mix of Arabic and broken English.

Attorney in hijab defends call for other women at 9/11 hearing to wear 'appropriate' clothingPublished May 06, 2012FoxNews.comMay 5, 2012: In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Pentagon paid civilian defense lawyer Cheryl Borman, defense attorney of accused Sept. 11 co-conspirator Walid bin Attash, argues a point during the military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. (AP/POOL)

The defense attorney who wore a traditional Islamic outfit during the rowdy arraignment of the accused Sept. 11 terrorists is defending her courtroom appeal that other women in the room wear more "appropriate" clothing to the proceedings -- out of respect for her client's Muslim beliefs.

Cheryl Bormann, counsel for defendant Walid bin Attash, attended the arraignment Saturday dressed in a hijab, apparently because her client insisted on it. She further requested that the court order other women to follow that example so that the defendants do not have to avert their eyes "for fear of committing a sin under their faith."

At a press conference Sunday at Guantanamo Bay, Bormann said she dresses in a hijab at "all times" when she meets with her client "out of respect" for his beliefs. Asked why she requested other women do the same, Bormann said, "When you're on trial for your life, you need to be focused."

Bormann, who is not Muslim, claimed the issue came up several years ago, when a paralegal wore "very short skirts" and it became a distraction for the defendants. She said that on Saturday, "somebody" was also dressed "in a way that was not in keeping with my client's religious beliefs."

"If because of someone's religious beliefs, they can't focus when somebody in the courtroom is dressed in a particular way, I feel it is incumbent upon myself as a counsel to point that out and ask for some consideration from the prosecution," she said. "Suffice to say it was distracting to members of the accused."

The clothing request was just one of several unusual moments during Saturday's lengthy and chaotic hearing.

The court hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants should have taken a couple of hours at most. Instead it lasted almost 13 hours, including meal and prayer breaks, as the men appeared to make a concerted effort to stall Saturday's hearing.

They knelt in prayer, ignored the judge, wouldn't listen to Arabic translations over their head sets and one even insisted on having the more than 20 pages detailing the charges against them read aloud, rather than deferred for later in their case as the judge wanted, which added more than two hours to the proceedings.

Defense lawyer James Connell said Sunday that a tentative trial date of May 2013 is a "placeholder" until a true date can be set for the trial.

"It's going to take time," said the chief prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, who said he expects to battle a barrage of defense motions before the case goes to trial. "I am getting ready for hundreds of motions because we want them to shoot everything they can shoot at us."

The defendants' behavior outraged 9/11 family members watching on closed-circuit video feeds around the United States at East Coast military bases. One viewer shouted, "C'mon, are you kidding me?" at the Fort Hamilton base in Brooklyn.

A handful of people who lost family members in the attacks and were selected by a lottery to attend the proceedings watched in the courtroom. "They're engaging in jihad in a courtroom," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother, Charles, was the pilot of the plane that flew into the Pentagon. She watched the proceeding from Brooklyn.

The defense attorneys in the case have complained repeatedly about the proceedings and about the military tribunal system itself. Human rights groups and defense lawyers say the secrecy of Guantanamo and the military tribunals will make it impossible for the defense. They argued the U.S. kept the case out of civilian court to prevent disclosure of the treatment of prisoners like Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times.

A family member of one 9/11 victim spoke to reporters Sunday and said he has respect for the defense attorneys.

"They're doing their job," said Eddie Bracken of Staten Island, New York, whose sister Lucy Fishman died at the World Trade Center in 2001.

Bracken also read from a prepared statement which was directed at Mohammed. "You never killed the American spirit. Let freedom ring, let freedom ring, let freedom ring -- and that's what I have to say," he said.

Mohammed, the admitted 9/11 architect, and the four men accused of aiding the 9/11 conspiracy put off their pleas until a later date. They face 2,976 counts of murder and terrorism in the 2001 attacks that sent hijacked jetliners into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The charges carry the death penalty.

Earlier Saturday, Mohammed cast off his earphones providing Arabic translations of the proceeding and refused to answer Army Col. James Pohl's questions or acknowledge he understood them. All five men refused to participate in the hearing; two passed around a copy of The Economist magazine and leafed through the articles.

Bin Attash was confined to a restraint chair when he came into court on Saturday, released only after he promised to behave.

Ramzi Binalshibh began praying alongside his defense table, followed by Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, in the middle of the hearing; Binalshibh then launched into a tirade in which he compared a prison official to the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and declared that he was in danger.

"Maybe they will kill me and say I committed suicide," he said in a mix of Arabic and broken English.

WASHINGTON – The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Usama bin Laden, The Associated Press has learned.

The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time Al Qaeda developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.

The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.

The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought his plane tickets when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It's not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.

The operation unfolded even as the White House and Department of Homeland Security assured the American public that they knew of no Al Qaeda plots against the U.S. around the anniversary of bin Laden's death. The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way. Once those concerns were allayed, the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday.

U.S. officials, who were briefed on the operation, insisted on anonymity to discuss the case.

It's not clear who built the bomb, but, because of its sophistication and its similarity to the Christmas bomb, authorities suspected it was the work of master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Al-Asiri constructed the first underwear bomb and two others that Al Qaeda built into printer cartridges and shipped to the U.S. on cargo planes in 2010.

Both of those bombs used a powerful industrial explosive. Both were nearly successful.

The operation is an intelligence victory for the United States and a reminder of Al Qaeda's ambitions, despite the death of bin Laden and other senior leaders. Because of instability in the Yemeni government, the terrorist group's branch there has gained territory and strength. It has set up terrorist camps and, in some areas, even operates as a de facto government.

But along with the gains there also have been losses. The group has suffered significant setbacks as the CIA and the U.S. military focus more on Yemen. On Sunday, Fahd al-Quso, a senior Al Qaeda leader, was hit by a missile as he stepped out of his vehicle along with another operative in the southern Shabwa province of Yemen.

Al-Quso, 37, was on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. He was indicted in the U.S. for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, in which 17 American sailors were killed and 39 injured.

Al-Quso was believed to have replaced Anwar al-Awlaki as the group's head of external operations.

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- A senior operative of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula wanted for his role in the USS Cole bombing was killed by an airstrike in Yemen on Sunday, Yemeni officials said.Fahd al Quso, 37, was killed while riding in a vehicle in the Rafdh district in Shabwa province, according to the officials.

Al Qaeda members confirmed the death in text messages to local media, saying al Quso died along with a companion identified as Fahd Lakdum.

Al Quso was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in 2003 on 50 counts of terrorism offenses for his role in the October 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen. The bombing killed 17 U.S. sailors.

In addition to al Quso's status as one of the most-wanted terrorists in Yemen, the FBI had offered a $5 million reward for any information leading to his capture.

He had been at large since escaping in April 2003 with eight others from a Yemeni prison, where they had been held on suspicion of involvement in the Cole bombing.

Earlier Sunday, two security officials told CNN that four Yemeni airstrikes killed six suspected al Qaeda militants and wounded two others in Lawder district of Abyan province.

The Defense Ministry said that 10 other suspected militants had been killed since Saturday morning in the same province's Zinjibar district.

The ministry said that the strikes were targeting two locations: a militant hideout and a training site.

Nine troops were wounded in Abyan's capital of Zinjibar when a mortar exploded, a senior Defense Ministry official told CNN. Two of the wounded were in critical condition, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the news media.

Local security officials said that the offensive has been the fiercest since last year, when the country began its anti-terrorism efforts.

More than 240 militants have been killed over the last month in Abyan alone, the security officials said.

"Al-Qaeda has been greatly weakened over the last two months and we expect them to evacuate strategic positions over the next two weeks," a senior official in Abyan who is not authorized to speak to the news media told CNN on condition of anonymity.

He said that 24 soldiers were killed during the same period of time.

Yemeni government military planes roam the skies of Abyan throughout the day, residents said.

"We wake up in the morning and see bodies laying on roads or near our farms. Most of the attacks take place late at night or early morning," said Yasser al-Numairi, a resident of Abyan.

The violence comes as newly elected President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has vowed to increase the pressure on al Qaeda until they are eradicated from every Yemeni village.

"Our fight against al Qaeda will continue until the displaced citizens can return safely to their homes and terrorist operatives surrender and lay their arms," Hadi said Saturday night in a speech broadcast on Yemen Television.

The Interior Ministry said on Sunday that 14 suspected al-Qaeda militants were arrested in April and that it will continue hunting down terrorists nationwide.

Al Qaeda is seeking to take advantage of the political unrest in Yemen to expand into new areas of southern Yemen.

WASHINGTON – The would-be bomber in the airline plot was actually working as a U.S. intelligence informant, but the CIA had Al Qaeda fooled from the start.

Fox News has learned that a government source familiar with intelligence confirmed that an international sting operation infiltrated the Al Qaeda cell. The informant was apparently one and the same as the bomber got the device out.

Last month, U.S. intelligence learned that Al Qaeda's Yemen branch hoped to launch a spectacular attack using a new, nearly undetectable bomb aboard an airliner bound for America, officials say.

But the man the terrorists were counting on to carry out the attack was actually working for the CIA and Saudi intelligence, U.S. and Yemeni officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The dramatic sting operation thwarted the attack before it had a chance to succeed.

It was the latest misfire for Al Qaeda, which has repeatedly come close to detonating a bomb aboard an airliner. For the United State, it was a victory that delivered the bomb intact to U.S. intelligence.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation. The cooperation of the would-be bomber was first reported Tuesday evening by The Los Angeles Times.

The FBI is still analyzing the explosive, which was intended to be concealed in a passenger's underwear. Officials said it was an upgrade over the bomb that failed to detonate on board an airplane over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb contained no metal and used a chemical -- lead azide -- that was to be a detonator in a nearly successful 2010 plot to attack cargo planes, officials said.

Security procedures at U.S. airports remained unchanged Tuesday, a reflection of both the U.S. confidence in its security systems and recognition that the government can't realistically expect travelers to endure much more. Increased costs and delays to airlines and shipping companies could have a global economic impact, too.

"I would not expect any real changes for the traveling public," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers. "There is a concern that overseas security doesn't match ours. That's an ongoing challenge."

While airline checks in the United States mean passing through an onerous, sometimes embarrassing series of pat-downs and body scans, procedures overseas can be a mixed bag. The U.S. cannot force other countries to permanently adopt the expensive and intrusive measures that have become common in American airports over the past decade.

The Transportation Security Administration sent advice to some international air carriers and airports about security measures that might stave off an attack from a hidden explosive. It's the same advice the U.S. has issued before, but there was a thought that it might get new attention in light of the foiled plot.

The U.S. has worked for years to try to improve security for U.S.-bound flights originating at international airports. And many countries agree that security needs to be better. But while plots such as the Christmas attack have spurred changes, some security gaps that have been closed in the U.S. remain open overseas.

Officials believe that body scanners, for instance, probably would have detected this latest attempt by Al Qaeda to bring down a jetliner. Such scanners allow screeners to see objects hidden beneath a passenger's clothes.

But while scanners are in place in airports nationwide, their use is scattershot overseas. Even in security-conscious Europe, the European Union has not required full-body imaging machines for all airports, though a number of major airports in Paris, London, Frankfurt and elsewhere use them.

All passengers on U.S.-bound flights are checked against terrorist watch lists and law enforcement databases.

In some countries, U.S. officials are stationed in airports to offer advice on security matters. In some cases, though, the U.S. is limited to hoping that other countries follow the security advice from the Transportation Security Administration.

"Even if our technology is good enough to spot it, the technology is still in human hands and we are inherently fallible," said Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. "And overseas, we have varying degrees of security depending on where the flight originates."

Al Qaeda has repeatedly tried to take advantage of those overseas gaps. The Christmas 2009 bombing originated in Amsterdam, where the bomber did not receive a full-body scan. And in 2010, terrorists smuggled bombs onto cargo jets, which receive less scrutiny than passenger planes.

In both those instances, the bombs were made by Al Qaeda's master bomb maker in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Officials believe this latest bomb was the handiwork of al-Asiri or one of his students.

In the meantime, Americans traveled Tuesday with little apparent concern.

"We were nervous -- for a minute," said Nan Gartner, a retiree on her way to Italy from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. "But then we thought, we aren't going anywhere near Yemen, so we're OK."

WASHINGTON -- A leak of the operation that kept al-Qaida bombs off jetliners headed to the United States was a criminal act that endangered national security, congressional leaders from both parties said Sunday.

Rep. Peter King, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Rogers all promised investigations into how information about the mission was leaked to The Associated Press early last week.

King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN's "State of the Union" the premature leak of the operation to the AP was criminal and damaging.

"The FBI has to do a full and complete investigation because this really is criminal in the literal sense of the word to leak out this type of sensitive, classified information on a really almost unparalleled penetration of the enemy," King said.

"This was more secret than any operation I'm familiar with, even more secret than [the assassination of Osama] bin Laden." Yet, "The Associated Press apparently had the entire story."

The leak put lives at risk and the operation had to be cut short, King said. "It sends a signal to countries willing to work with us that we can't be trusted to keep a secret if in fact we are the ones who leaked it out."

The bombs, intended to be smuggled aboard an aircraft undetected and then detonated, bear the forensic signature of suspected al-Qaida bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who is believed to be hiding in Yemen with the group Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, officials have said.

"I think there was a bit of premature chest-thumping in this whole thing," Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS's "Face the Nation."

"No national security operation ever should be used for a headline under any circumstances," suggesting someone with ties to the intelligence community had sought political gain from the operation.

Feinstein said that Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is the top security threat to the United States and the bomb maker thought to have created the two non-metallic explosive devices -- Hassan al-Asiri -- must be killed to safeguard U.S. national security.

"I am hopeful that we will be able to, candidly, kill this bomb maker and kill some of these other associates, because there is a dangerous process in play at the present time," Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told "Fox News Sunday."

Officials have said a bomb obtained in last week's intelligence operation appears to be an upgraded version of the so-called "underwear bomb" that failed to bring down a passenger jet over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

A bomber from the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen sent to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner last month was actually a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide mission, intelligence agency officials have confirmed.

Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, working with British intelligence and the CIA, placed the operative inside al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, with the goal of convincing his handlers to give him a new type of non-metallic bomb for the mission, officials said.

Western intelligence agencies have identified AQAP as among the most dangerous and determined al-Qaida affiliates in the world, dedicated in part to attacks on the West.

The double agent arranged instead to deliver the device to U.S. and other intelligence authorities waiting outside Yemen, the officials said.

The main charge was a high-grade military explosive that "undoubtedly would have brought down an aircraft," The New York Times reported, citing a senior U.S. official.

Feinstein said the leak early last week on the operation to the AP "is very serious."

"The leak did endanger sources and methods, and the leak I think has to be prosecuted," the senator said.

" ... It gives a tip off to AQAP to be more careful about who they use as their couriers, as their bombers. ... Criminal charges will go to the Department of Justice."

Feinstein was asked if current screening technology would identify this kind of bomb on an airline passenger. "For this particular material," she said, "candidly, no.

"I think Americans have to understand that this particular kind of explosive, non-metallic, is not easily detectable."

Consequently the flying public is going to have to tolerate more invasive searches, she said. "The American public has not been terribly sympathetic" to this, she said, but "it's very important that TSA [the Transportation Security Administration] keeps up its efforts."

Al-Qaida's wing in Yemen said a suicide bombing on Monday that killed 90 people was in revenge for what it called the U.S. war on its followers in southern Yemen and that it had targetted the Yemeni defence minister and his top commanders.

The group also warned in a statement received by Reuters that more attacks will follow if the military campaign in the southern province of Abyan did not stop.

"We will take revenge, God willing, and the flames of war will reach you everywhere, and what happened is but the start of a jihad project in defence of honour and sanctities," the statement, addressing Yemeni military commanders, said.